On the recordDecember 5, 2016
I am a big fan of Chairman Royce's work, and I appreciate all the work of the committee in these difficult areas. Sometimes in trying to bring together a big authorization bill like this, language gets inserted that can be problematic. On page 105, for example, section 713, ``Recruitment and retention of individuals who have lived, worked, or studied in predominantly Muslim countries or communities,'' we know that one of our problems when we were trying to deal with radical Islam is, number one, our President doesn't recognize radical Islam, although some of the best experts who are radical Islamists say, yes, it exists, and Muslim friends like President el- Sisi acknowledge it is a problem. For example, here in subsection C, it says: ``The Secretary shall make every effort to recruit and retain individuals that have lived, worked, or studied in predominantly Muslim countries or communities, including individuals who have studied at Islamic institutions of higher learning.'' I know this was not submitted by a Muslim--far from it--but although we desperately need people who have lived and studied in this area, to tell the Secretary of State that the Secretary shall make every effort to get people like this is the way our enemies take advantage of us. We should not be telling the Secretary to make every effort. As a former chief justice, that is the kind of thing--you have to say, well, he didn't make every effort or she didn't make every effort.…
